In Letho Veritas
by Sandataba
Summary: In which Shikamaru learns the perils of being a teenage boy in the presence of a clueless girl. Shikaten.
1. Love is a fool

_Disclaimer: In a parallel universe, another me owns Naruto. And everyone eats rainbows and poops butterflies._

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**In Letho Veritas**

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_**Chapter 1: **Love is a fool_

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Festivals were troublesome.

_'Well_,' Shikamaru amended, '_it depends on your role in the festival.' _Being on a security mission during a festival was definitely troublesome.

He had a headache. The heat in this part of the land of Fire was exhausting; he was glad his part of the mission didn't necessitate too much physical activity. A faint pang of guilt niggled at the back of his mind for making his partner do all the sweaty work, but their roles had been clear from the start, and Tenten said she didn't mind. Shikamaru had learned very early in life though, that women often said one thing and meant the opposite, and you could never be too careful around them. In that sense, they were naturally very ninja-like.

Slouching deeper into his chair, the Chuunin gave every impression of bored observation of the activities going on below him. He was on one of the hidden balconies of the client's many houses in the city, overlooking the main road where the festival procession was passing. The throng of revelers had swollen to a frantic, whirling cacophony of sound and color, with parade floats of every size, shape and theme moving at a snail's pace due to the sheer volume of people crowding about, dancing and cheering as raucous music blared from speakers along the road.

The client's float was not even in sight yet, and, despite his outward lassitude, Shikamaru was getting agitated. The client's regular security complement could cover most of the client's route during the festival, but Shikamaru and Tenten had concluded that this place was the hot spot, which the Nara now realized was true both literally and figuratively, where the highest likelihood of an attempt on the client's life would be possible. Shikamaru had therefore set up here while Tenten was posted close to the client to make sure he remained safe the rest of the way.

Tenten did not relish having to act as 'female escort' to the client during the festival, but the Hokage had told her in no uncertain terms to feel free to "kick the client in the nuts" if he forgot that Tenten was only _playing _the part of an escort, which had caused Tenten to smile in a way that unpleasantly reminded Shikamaru of Ino, Temari, and his mother.

Hmp. Troublesome women.

Shikamaru was starting to think Tenten was not too bad for a girl, though. His earlier attempt to get to know her at the start of the mission had actually been quite productive. While he didn't doubt her professionalism, he thought there was no harm in establishing a better rapport with a team mate who would be relying on him to lead this mission, in effect entrusting him with her life.

_"You don't like me." _

_Shikamaru's quiet tone made Tenten stop short. She had become impatient with his lazy stroll and begun walking briskly ahead. They had plenty of time before arriving at the village for their next assigned mission, but Tenten was used to cutting travel time in half under penalty of doing five hundred push ups together with the Green Team. It was nice change of pace, being assigned on a team different from Gai's, but traveling with Nara Shikamaru felt like wading through molasses. In slow motion._

_She glanced at him over her shoulder, "Feelings are irrelevant on a mission, Shikamaru. I'll follow orders, don't worry."_

_"I know, I know," he rolled his eyes upwards. So troublesome, "I was just trying to make conversation, is all."_

_"What?" she was confused, "By telling me that I don't like you?"_

_"Seemed like as good a starting point as any," it was hardly a random choice for discussion though. He was baiting her. He could have engaged her in a polite conversation on weaponry, battle strategy, maybe the weather even, but he disliked small talk. Life was too short to have boring conversations. If they weren't going to talk about something interesting, he'd rather cloud-watch._

_"Hmph." She let him know what she thought of that, but fell back anyway to match his leisurely stride. "Fine. How do I dislike you?"_

_"Let me count the ways," Shikamaru rejoined, and she grinned despite herself. _

_- He was a chauvinist pig._

_- He had not bothered to lower his voice during the Chuunin exams when he'd concluded that Tenten would lose to Temari._

_- He had thereafter proceeded to soundly beat Temari with what appeared to be very little effort on his part._

_- He was promoted Chuunin earlier than any of them._

_- He had chosen Neji to be part of the Sasuke retrieval mission and returned the Hyuuga grievously wounded. _

_"It helps that you felt bad about Neji though," Tenten commented after Shikamaru had enumerated all the incidents that may or may not have pissed her off._

_"I do." Shikamaru said glumly, recalling that dark time, and going over once again what he could have done differently. _

_Sensing the impending heavy mood, Tenten said lightly, "But you forgot to emphasize one thing in particular that really makes me hate you."_

_"I'm a lazy bum?" he drawled._

_"You really are a genius!" her open smile caused his sober expression to lift marginally, though he lacked the energy to smile back. _

_One of their stomachs rumbled. Not Tenten's._

_"Break for lunch?" her jaw dropped open as he nonchalantly wandered off to find a suitable clearing in the forest for their meal. They had only been walking for two hours! Tenten wasn't even slightly tired!_

_Tenten's fingers twitched and she compulsively began to set up traps within the area, just for something to do. Shikamaru thought she might be experiencing actual culture shock with him. _

* * *

Shikamaru smiled to himself. Tenten was endowed with a saintly level of patience though, well-cultivated through long exposure to two beautiful green beasts of Konoha. Aside from looking at him in disbelief every now and then at his incredible lack of drive, she respected his rank and had no objection to Tsunade appointing him leader of their two-man team despite his being her junior in terms of age. She might not have the battle experience of Temari or the familiarity of Ino, but he concluded he could work with her.

Add the fact that she was far nicer to him than both of the blonde females in his life, despite her averred dislike of him in general, and Shikamaru began to muse that he could actually request for more missions together with Team Gai's kunoichi. Not that he would ever request for _more _missions, of course. Just that if it was absolutely unavoidable for him to go on one that required female ninja, then she would be among those he'd consider.

It was unlike him to dwell on any girl for any length of time, since it was such a tiresome activity, but he'd had very little to do today. Sure, he had neutralized a number of threats from where he sat in apparent indolence, hands moving in subtle hand seals -- he was finessing some of his clan's techniques to a point where even seals would be unnecessary. He moreover had a full complement of security personnel at his beck and call, and with a few commands which, to the onlooker, appeared to be simple requests for refreshments and other amenities, had allowed them to subdue the would-be attackers he easily caught trying to set up an ambush within the area. It was still boring, though.

He found his mind wandering back to Tenten. His assurance to the Hokage that she would be more fitting for this mission than Hinata had mystified Tsunade at first. While the Byakugan would certainly aid in pinpointing any enemy and the Heavenly Spin would be a highly effective defense of the client during attack, the client had pleaded for ninja who would do their best not to disrupt the festivities and remain inconspicuous. The plan Shikamaru formulated would make that possible and Tenten was the natural choice.

_"You're very easy to overlook," he complimented as they settled down to eat. Then he ducked._

_"Thanks," Tenten smiled wryly and chucked another apple at him for good measure. She never missed._

Shikamaru sighed and rubbed his sore head. At least the heat was letting up. As late afternoon gave way to early evening, more tourists would probably be emerging from their hotels to join the night festivities; it was expected by midnight for the crowd to be double or even triple its current size. He hoped to wrap up security duty soon.

Finally, the client's float came into sight. A gaudy affair, bedecked with shiny accoutrements, streamers and pennants flying in the rising night air. Shikamaru decided the person perched foolishly in the middle of float, atop a glittering paper-mache throne, was indeed their client displayed like a sitting duck for the entire world to target.

Tenten had offered to henge and stand in for the client, but the entire point of this exercise, in the client's mind, was to expose himself to the highest amount of risk and rely on his security and hired ninja to protect him. Shikamaru thought there were certain occasions, important ones like the Chuunin exams and the induction of the new Hokage, where it was necessary for the leaders and political bigwigs to appear in honor of the event. A silly festival though, where everyone wore costumes, and the reason for celebration was nothing more than the coming of spring...

He did not at first recognize the court jester as his team mate. Was that really Tenten? He didn't know if he was going to smile or gawk. The monochromatic bodysuit looked very-- form-fitting, and he had never seen any ninja wear ruffles on her collar. Or bells on her toes, for that matter.

Then he blinked as she executed a triple somersault right across the float, ended with a lavish bow to a wildly cheering audience, and emanated a death vibe that the Nara was very familiar with from experience with the females in his life.

"Damn," he noted an attack had materialized during the few seconds he had been struck dumb at Tenten's disguise. He noticed she had intercepted a number of senbon while she was doing the somersaults and probably had them cleverly caught between various points of her anatomy, that surprisingly pleasing anatomy which curved gently in the right places and stood firm where--- he clicked his tongue and mentally shook himself.

Blinding flashes of light simultaneously exploded in a tight circle around the float, effectively cutting off the reach of his shadow technique. They had caught on to his jutsu.

However, Shikamaru had anticipated this. Tenten was already faultlessly executing their Plan B, and tossing out smoke grenades spaced out between the flares as she twisted about in an acrobatic dance that made it look like part of the performance. The crowd, which had at first panicked when the flares set off, milled about, crying out after being half-blinded, but were soon enthralled as the smoke bombs detonated in sequence, releasing different hues of green, blue and pink smoke, wisping up into hazy phantom dragons. The smoke was a good enough conduit for Shikamaru's shadows, and he isolated and immobilized the attackers in a matter of seconds. With small nudges from his shadows he directed Tenten's aim through the haze and, relying on his guidance alone, her shots with the poison-tipped senbon were flawless.

The smoke dissipated and Shikamaru could only sigh as the client emerged with a contraption that raised his throne even higher above the float, resplendent in his dazzling king's robes and crown.

Tenten channeled her inner Lee and jumped up and down and did cartwheels of youth. For someone who wasn't supposed to draw attention to herself, she was quite the scene-stealer.

* * *

The captured assassins were questioned and found to be low-level rogue ninja who'd been hired by the client's political enemies, which meant the B-ranking given to this mission had been accurate. Night came and went, and the festivities began to die down eventually in the wee hours of morning. Shikamaru had to be a little more mobile during the evening while their client mingled among revelers in a street party, but the presence of other VIPs and a smaller venue ensured higher security so the night passed without incident.

The client finally signaled to Shikamaru that the job was done and he could go. The chuunin's eyebrow quirked when he saw the client shake his head at Tenten when she appeared to ask him if she was dismissed as well. The costumed king leered at her and patted his lap invitingly. Tenten shot Shikamaru a look. He shrugged.

She grinned and waved him away. '_You don't need to see what I'm about to do.'_

With last look of pity for their client, Shikamaru retired to the room assigned to him. He knew Tenten could handle it.

That outfit she wore, though. He'd have to tell her not to wear anything resembling it again if they were going to work together anytime in the future. He could not help being a teenage boy but never thought it would have any bearing on missions. He had after all, grown up with Ino, who had a rather liberal clothing sense and the Hokage's very ample bosom was a common sight in Konoha, so there was no reason for him to think he'd be affected by Tenten in a tight-fitting costume. A worrying thought, _What if it's just her? _briefly crossed his mind. He'd think about it in the morning.

It seemed he had only laid his head down on a soft cushion when he heard the sound of bells and a hand was shaking him awake again.

A stark white face with black diamond markings painted around two large brown eyes was peering into Shikamaru's sleep-fogged gaze.

"I just need to know, Shikamaru, what was up with you earlier, while I was on the float?" Tenten demanded. Ah, the trouble begins anew.

"I was distracted."

The only light in the room came from the door, which was slightly ajar, leading out into the hallway. From this, he assumed she only wanted an explanation, not a bonding session with him, and thus had not turned on the lights so she could leave him to go back to sleep. How thoughtful.

Shikamaru immediately pushed the warm, fuzzy feelings building up in his chest far, far away. Becoming fond of this female was troublesome, especially considering his inability to control his reactions to her. It helped that she was now looking at him with narrowed eyes, obviously irked at his failure to elaborate.

"Good thing we had a back-up plan then." She drew back and crossed her arms, giving her best Neji-glare. Shikamaru yawned, message clear that he had a high immunity to such things.

"I always have a back up plan," he explained stretching out on the lounge chair fully before pulling himself to sit up with a sigh. "What a long day."

He was baiting her! She just knew it! He sat on his ass all day and had the gall to-- Tenten counted to five. She tossed her head to move the jester hat's dangling bells away from her face, then turned on her heel, ready to stalk away and change out of this horrible costume the client had made her wear. She hoped neither Gai nor Lee would ever hear that she had consented to it. There would be nothing to stop them from pressing the green jumpsuit again on her and that would be the end of Tenten's social life in Konoha.

"Tenten." She looked back at Shikamaru. He had a strange expression. "You did a good job. Thanks."

She waited a beat for anything further, but he had shut his mouth very decidedly, as if talking would somehow implicate him in some crime.

"Okay." She was ready to conclude that in order for one to be a genius, one had to be slightly eccentric as well. One moment Shikamaru was a chatty cat, the next he was close-mouthed and chose each word with care. Tenten was too drained to figure it out right now.

"Well, all things considered, we accomplished our mission, so yeah, good job too." She returned the compliment. "I'm glad we had this chance to work together." She gave him a small smile, wondering why it was he never smiled back. Probably stress from being team leader, but the mission was done, surely it was not _that _taxing on his facial muscles?

"You want to know why I was distracted?" he suddenly asked. She nodded. He scratched the back of his neck, damning himself even as he decided to speak. "Well, look at you."

"Yes, I've already let the client know what I think about this travesty of fashion." Tenten grimaced as she picked fretfully at her gloves. "I didn't realize it would offend you even from afar. It's not a reason to let down your guard though."

It was Shikamaru's turn for his jaw to drop open. Was she deliberately misunderstanding him to fish for compliments? "Tenten, you're a kunoichi. You're supposed to have a pretty good assessment of your womanly attributes, which are all part of a female's arsenal that may be employed in the attainment of an objective."

"Uh," she heard something about womanly attributes and arsenal, but his flat delivery and pained expression were distracting. "What are you saying, Shikamaru?" Doe eyes blinked at him in complete innocence.

Troublesome!

Shikamaru stood up and, taking hold of her elbows, gently propelled her to stand in front of a mirror. The false dawn filtered in to give an eerie damask tint to the room. While Shikamaru's face was shadowed as he stood behind her, Tenten's delicate features were accentuated through the makeup, and her silhouette clearly visible in the reflection.

"You're very pretty Tenten. When you wear clothes like this, you can be very distracting to males."

Because Shikamaru had _some _sensitivity when it came to women, even if many said otherwise, he did not deliver the statement with the bored drawl he employed with almost every utterance. His tone was quiet, again, and perhaps without him meaning for it to be, somewhat caressing.

"Oh," the physical jolt of shock he felt through her body convinced him it was not an act. "Oh. Haha. I knew that." A lie. Tenten could lie about many things, but it seemed she got flustered in situations like this. Interesting. Troublesome, but interesting.

"So," she processed this, and he watched her keenly in the mirror. "I distracted you, and as a result created a risk for the mission?" he could see she didn't like that conclusion and was preparing to accuse him of chauvinism again.

"My fault, entirely," he acknowledged quickly, "I ought to have better focus."

"Yes you do," she scolded, although the effect was rather diminished by the fact that she was in a clown outfit. "Geniuses shouldn't be distracted." She craned her neck to look up at him, and smiled to soften the sting, "It worked out in the end though, so that's ok." She nodded, as if coming to a decision, "Okay. I promise to be more-- self-aware of my..."

"Womanly attributes." Shikamaru's mouth quirked. He wondered if she was aware that she had absorbed some of Rock Lee's mannerisms in proclaiming his goals in training.

"Womanly attributes, so in the future I can---" her gaze suddenly flickered downwards to the floor, as she realized what 'utilizing her womanly attributes' might actually entail. "I'll-- ask Ino about it, I guess."

"Hm." Why did the phrase 'corruption of innocence' immediately flash through Shikamaru's mind when he thought of Tenten asking Ino for feminine advice? "If you like. Although you seem to be doing just fine. I assume you've kicked the client where the Hokage instructed?"

"He tried to grope my clone!" Tenten blazed in righteous indignation. "You don't do that, no matter how a girl is dressed!"

"I'll put it in my report as 'he had it coming,' then," he said with a straight face.

"Please do." Tenten regarded him, saw he was indeed exhausted from the day's events. "I'll let you get some rest now, Shikamaru. Thanks for, well, being honest."

Shikamaru knew he would find this girl interesting, and was glad to confirm his presumptions. The more time he spent with her, the less troublesome it seemed. And as he watched her go, he suddenly wished she would stay.

"You probably haven't kissed anyone yet, either." He said the first thing that came to mind.

She stopped, without turning. He knew he had crossed the line when he saw the tight set of her shoulders.

"It's not a deficiency. I was just stating--" he trailed off, uncertain. She slowly pivoted, and walked deliberately towards him. The look on her face was inscrutable.

"Shikamaru," she said quietly. Her voice was firm, with no flustering or hesitation this time. "My goal is to become a strong female ninja. If necessary, on a mission, yes, I will employ my 'female attributes', as you say, so please be assured that during a mission I will not falter if it is called for. But beyond missions, whom I exchange intimacies with is a personal matter."

Underneath her glare, Shikamaru was the first to look down. He had hurt her pride. She had not threatened him, nor shouted at him, nor burst into tears. She was unlike any girl he'd met.

He quickly bound her to his shadow when she moved to leave again, forcing her to look up at him.

"I'm very sorry Tenten." He hoped she would hear the sincerity in his voice. "I didn't mean to question your capability."

"Shikamaru," she bit back a potentially hot retort and again took a deep breath. This man! She could flay him alive for practically calling her naive. So maybe she was, about some things, but he had no right to taunt her. What was his problem?

Her eyes raked across his face, which was discomfited and dismayed. Was he genuinely sorry? Well, Gai always said true strength lay in compassion; she supposed that philosophy was applicable in this case. She was still angry though. "Give me a minute ok?"

"Sure."

They stood in silence for a while. He didn't dare release the jutsu, when Tenten had just blithely admitted to emasculating another man earlier; his own masculinity may very well be at stake.

Then he thought of something. He stepped forward, forcing her to mimic the action. She watched him, confused, as he brought them as close as he dared. "I'll tell you something in return. I don't know, but somehow it might make you feel like forgiving me."

She waited. He lowered his voice. As a man, he was somewhat embarrassed to reveal this, given the well-circulated rumor that he was dating Ino and Temari at the same time, but he had inadvertently uncovered one of Tenten's secrets, he would offer his own.

"I've never kissed anyone either." With a sheepish smile, he released the jutsu. Then he had to catch her because Tenten was so surprised.

"Really?" she asked.

"Well, I've kissed my mom..." he frowned as she began giggling.

"Sorry, but admitting you kiss your mom is only making it worse, Shikamaru."

He sighed.

"Okay, forgiven." Tenten smiled up at him, a little surprised he'd gotten taller than her in just a few years, "Why do you insist on continuing this discussion when you're so tired?"

"Well, I like you."

They stared at each other, and Shikamaru suddenly felt all of the day's events catching up with him and burying him in fog. "I - I meant-- I liked working with you." What was going on? Why did his brain stop working at 4 in the morning? What was he saying to this girl?

Tenten looked at him the way one might look at a lost wild animal, with pity and extreme caution. "I think... you were right about my costume. Maybe... we should say good night."

"Right."

She fled.

Shikamaru sank onto the bed and willed himself to believe he would remember this as a very strange dream come morning.

* * *

_A/N: There are a number of nice Shikaten fics out there, but I noticed they're either AU or futurefics where Tenten is already cool and super strong, or that at the start of the story they've already established this easy friendship with each other. I should take that as a hint that pre-time skip Tenten and Shikamaru just aren't compatible, but I am a glutton for punishment so I tried it anyway._


	2. Maybe our goals aren't so different

_**Chapter 2:** Maybe our goals aren't so different_

* * *

Shikamaru was entertained. He sat by the window in the dining hall of their client, polishing off a hearty breakfast in typical unhurried fashion. Tenten had risen and dined much earlier, and it was she that provided him with his late-morning entertainment as he watched her politely try to turn away the servants, who were paying no attention to her protests.

She stood at the entrance of the client's mansion, looking nonplussed as servants deposited bag after bag of the client's peace offerings in front of her, until a veritable fort of luggage began to pile up before her eyes.

"Tis but a small gift, m'lady, from Mr. Tai," was their only murmured explanation as she tried to make them stop. "He is very grateful for your services."

The smile wiped itself off Shikamaru's face when he thought how heavy those bags looked. A sound to his right signalled the entry of another servant, a butler he thought this one was called, who placed a covered dish beside him before discreetly retreating.

"A bonus, sir, from the master," the respectably-dressed manservant informed him courteously before exiting.

Shikamaru's eyes widened at the large wad of cash he uncovered on the silver plate. What exactly had Tenten done last night?

* * *

"I thought you burned your bridges with this client?" Shikamaru finally emerged from the house and Tenten looked at him in consternation, momentarily forgetting their strange encounter earlier that morning in his room, when he had blurted out that he liked her.

"That's what I figured, too." She was at a loss, "I haven't even seen him since then. Have you?"

"No," Shikamaru sighed, eyes raised toward the sky, "Probably sleeping in after yesterday's party. The servants relayed his 'profuse thanks' and bid us good journey." He gestured half-heartedly at the gift pile, "It's probably rude to refuse that."

"I don't understand. I was plenty rude yesterday," Tenten threw her arms up, "Civilians are weird. How am I supposed to bring all this?"

"Sealing scroll."

She crossed her arms stubbornly.

"My friends!" Mr. Tai's reedy voice floated down from the top of the stairs. In a plush purple dressing robe that somehow reminded them of his garish royal costume from yesterday, he descended, face wreathed in smiles.

Shikamaru noted that the man did not look like someone who had suffered a painful punishment for disrespect to a kunoichi. If anything, he looked more salacious than last night and his eyes kept wandering towards Tenten in a very disturbing manner. When Tenten gave him a sharp look though, he began to immediately fawn and grovel before them.

"I am glad I was able to catch you before you left," he wheedled, "Amazing service you provide, Konoha. I'll be sure to highly recommend you to my business partners and friends." Then, he gave slow, meaningful wink at Tenten. Who was aghast.

Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

Clearly, it was just Tenten's luck that the client was the type who got turned on by dominatrix-type shows of aggression, her inflicting pain upon him last night must have had the exact opposite effect of what she intended.

Tenten looked ready to kill Tai, but any further threats or attempts to intimidate him would just be taken the wrong way, he'd probably go into ecstasies in front of them. Not a sight Shikamaru would enjoy.

He sighed. There was a simple way of solving this. He risked having Tenten chuck far deadlier things than apples at him in retaliation but he'd take the chance.

He gave what he hoped was a cool, withering look at Mr. Tai, and deliberately wrapped an arm around his team mate's shoulders. "We only did what the mission specified sir, no more, no less. Your gifts are most generous, but we really can't bring all this stuff with us. We'll keep the cash bonus though. Thanks." He gave Tenten a squeeze and inclined his head slightly to her, "Shall we, dear?"

"Yeah," she said after a shocked pause. "Of course, sweetheart."

They turned and disappeared from sight in a blur of movement, leaving the crestfallen Mr. Tai with the heap of useless baggage.

* * *

"That was--- that was---" Tenten covered her burning face in her hands and ran even faster, as Shikamaru tried to keep up. She'd smack into a tree if she wasn't careful.

Shikamaru was having his own problems. The arm which he'd draped around Tenten hadn't stopped tingling yet. Imagine the tingling he'd feel if he'd hugged her with both arms. Imagine if he'd pressed fully against her-- stop! His predilection for thinking twenty steps ahead was not serving him well in this case.

"Let's take a break," he finally ordered, when Tenten still hadn't spoken after half an hour of outright marathon running. She might be used to running 100 laps around Konoha after breakfast but Shikamaru liked to digest his food first.

She wouldn't sit still though, and began using a hapless tree for target practice. She wasn't looking at him.

"Tenten."

"Shikamaru," she flinched and turned to him wearily. "He propositioned me last night, so I slammed him against the wall, pointed a knife at his family jewels and told him he'd never sire children if he so much as looked at me funny again." She sighed, "I always keep my promises Shikamaru. I think I have to go back and castrate him now. Except that I'm afraid he'll enjoy it."

"It was the thought that counted," Shikamaru said calmly. "Some guys are just perverts. Nothing you can do."

Tenten heaved another sigh and finally let it go. Collapsing against a tree, she began to laugh weakly, "I can't believe you had to step in and protect me like that. It was so cliche."

"You'd have done the same for me," Shikamaru stretched his arms behind his head, leaning back to stare at the clouds, "If it were some lecherous old lady, I mean."

"Of course," Tenten laughed, "or even a lecherous old man, whose taste ran to young men." Shikamaru's nose wrinkled in distaste.

"I'm really sleepy, actually. I just couldn't relax in that house. Can we stay put for a while? I'm ready to drop right here." Shikamaru barely glanced at Tenten's imploring look, his decision on such matters already foreordained.

"Take an hour," he said indulgently, "Take two."

* * *

Tenten awoke to the sound of crickets in the early evening, and was disgruntled at how easy it was to slide into this lackadaisical lifestyle of sleeping the day away after only a brief exposure to Shikamaru. The master of sloth himself was nowhere to be seen, and Tenten tried to sharpen her night vision in the gathering dusk.

A twig snapped nearby and she searched the shadows in the area. She relaxed as Shikamaru emerged from the foliage, carrying firewood.

"We're making camp?" Tenten had never been on a mission like this before. Waking up to get ready to sleep some more was a novel idea.

"Just a quick dinner, then we're off." And he amiably agreed when she insisted on cooking.

* * *

_And then we're off... to a spa..._

Tenten was nearly catatonic in the steaming water. Shikamaru was spending the large sum of money the client had unexpectedly gifted them with to treat themselves to a high class resort with hot springs, full body massages, and super deluxe accomodation suites. Tenten had no idea if she was supposed to say anything against it. He was team leader, after all.

_I've never been to a spa... where I could relax..._

There was a world of difference going to a hot spring with Team Gai, and going to a hot spring with anyone who wasn't from Team Gai. It was-- peaceful.

"Enjoying yourself?" Shikamaru called from beyond the bamboo divider between the male and female sections of the spring. Given that this spa was somewhat remote from the village and the late hour, there were no other patrons, and they had the hot springs to themselves.

"Um."

"Stop feeling guilty. That's an order."

Tenten sank lower in the water to mask her laughter as bubbles, "Are you sure _you're_ not the one feeling guilty?" she called back after a moment of mirth.

"What are you talking about?" the Nara's irritated voice returned.

"You took the extra cash from the client, which we both know resulted from his strange kinky enjoyment of my company," Tenten found it easier to talk when she wasn't facing Shikamaru. His vaunted intelligence made her feel like he was always studying her whenever they locked gazes. "And now you're trying to make me feel better by pampering me."

He had no response to that.

"Eh, who would have thought Nara Shikamaru could be sweet?" Tenten submerged more laughter into bubbles. "If you can't beat the client, extort from him. Good plan."

"I'm glad you approve," Shikamaru's grumbling voice had sunk down to a mutter.

"Hey," Tenten pressed herself to the dividing wall, suddenly concerned. She considered peeking through the wooden slats, but dissuaded herself that there wasn't anything interesting to see there, "You really aren't guilty, are you? Hazards of the job, I'm fine."

Shikamaru sighed. "If you say so."

"I do say so," Tenten said firmly, "and I really am enjoying myself right now. You know, I wouldn't mind going on more missions with you, you sure know how to reward yourself after a job well done."

The younger man made a dismissive sound. "I don't plan on going more missions than I can help. It's too much trouble." She heard him shift on his side of the divider, they were both sitting with their backs against the same wall, so they didn't have to raise their voices too much to communicate. "I just want to be a regular shinobi, get an average mission track record, settle down with an ordinary girl, have a couple of kids, and live my life quietly till I die of old age."

He fell silent after that spiel. There was always one response to his avowed goals in life, no matter who he told. He waited for the inevitable lecture on how he was wasting his genius potential and how he should strive to be the best he could. Shikamaru shut his eyes, mildly amused at himself. He just wanted to change the topic, because he did feel a little guilty about Tenten's harrassment while on his watch.

"Shikamaru, that's..." Tenten's voice caught, "So inspiring."

_Eh?_

"I will help you reach your goals!" the lilting voice behind the divider sent strange visions into Shikamaru's head of a white-picket fence and two little dark-haired children running about in a garden. The little boy had his hair tied up in a spiky ponytail while the little girl child had hers up in two very adorable buns...

"I'll be the ninja who guards your peaceful existence in Konoha, and protect your family, the future generation of the Leaf," Tenten's fervor cut through his daydreams and brought Shikamaru crashing back to earth. "It's such a great ideal to visualize Konoha as a place where you could raise a family in safety and happiness. I'll work harder and be the strongest kunoichi yet!"

Shikamaru glubbed beneath the water.

* * *

_A/N: Meh. Talking about masochism doesn't merit a 'T' rating yet, right?_


	3. A quiet dinner with Team Gai

_A/N: Thank you so much to all those who reviewed so kindly and well. I always told myself I'd stick to one-shots, but Shikamaru simply will not cooperate for a quickie with Tenten. I am considering an AU where Tenten just clubs him with a big stick and drags him by the hair to her cave. And plays making shadow monsters with him by firelight. Oops, there it was. End of AU._

* * *

_**Chapter 3: **A quiet dinner with Team Gai_

* * *

Shikamaru glanced at the girl who had been smiling to herself ever since they left the hot springs. While the spa and detox package she'd ordered for them both was not really his thing, he was willing to endure having his muscles rolled and manipulated by some strange therapist for his team mate's well-being. It didn't turn out so bad. It was actually quite nice.

Right now, she was practically glowing with relaxation, and had immediately requested that they set off for Konoha, agreeing readily to his condition that they do so at a not-too-taxing speed.

"What's so funny?" He was smart, but he couldn't read minds.

"Back at Mr. Tai's, you called me 'dear,'" Tenten chuckled, "and your family raises deer, don't they? Get it? Dear?"

Good heavens, the girl he liked was super corny.

Shikamaru nearly lost his chakra foothold on the tree.

_So he liked her?_

_And she was corny?_

This was unacceptable. Shikamaru's head spun at the thoughts he never believed would be bothering his considerable intellect. But what exactly was it that was unacceptable? The fact that he was finally noticing the opposite sex, or that his first crush was apparently someone whose sense of humor had been molded and shaped by the likes of Maito Gai?

"I do, but I wish I didn't," Shikamaru said in disgust. Tenten looked at him in surprise. "that was... lame, Tenten."

He knew what he was doing. It was the equivalent of pulling on a girl's pigtails in the Academy. He couldn't help it. The alternative was to laugh like a moron at her silly jokes. Which were really, really corny.

"Huh. I'll try harder next time," she made a face at him and Shikamaru resisted the urge to tackle her and squeeze the living daylights out of her. She was looking cuter by the second to him-- this was really getting out of hand.

He was almost glad at the discovery of a presence nearby. Tenten had noticed at the same time he did, and they silently came to a stop, concealing themselves among the high branches of the trees.

A small smokeless fire was flickering in a clearing, with dark figures hunched around it. Their eyes widened at the sight of a trussed up Konohamaru and his genin team struggling futilely on the ground, while three other cloaked ninjas watched in amusement. The insignia of Sound village became visible as one of the captors glanced around idly.

Shikamaru caught Tenten's eye and signaled for her to check if there were any other unfriendlies in the area. She noiselessly slipped back into the shadows.

"So, what do we do now?" one of the Sound nins asked. His tiny voice was somewhat incongruous to his hulking appearance.

"Well, technically we haven't caught them all yet. That sensei of theirs is still MIA," another groused. His voice was squeaky as well. Shikamaru began to reassess the situation.

"What did you do to Ebisu-sensei?" the female sound-nin tried her best to act tough, but her voice was the youngest of all. Henges, all of them.

Shikamaru sighed and various heads snapped up to attention.

"Easy," he drawled out, revealing his position, "Just a fellow Leaf passing through." He dropped down from the tree and nodded at them, "Leaf vs. Sound role play of a possible ambush scenario, huh?"

The three Sound nin poofed back into the little Leaf genin they were, looking proud of themselves, "We won this round."

"No you haven't." Konohamaru shouted. Shikamaru glanced at the hogtied hothead, seeing more than a passing resemblance to Naruto in the boy's personality, "You haven't found Ebisu-sensei." He looked very pleased with himself.

"That's 'cause you knocked him out," Moegi muttered, as she sat sullenly with her hands tied behind her. "Our own team leader. That's mutiny, is what that is."

"You knocked out Ebisu?" Shikamaru looked skeptical. "How?"

"AAAARGH!"

They all froze at the sound of a female scream.

* * *

Tenten saw the bleeding jounin groggily sitting up and quickly rushed to his aid. She'd already made sure there was no one else around.

"You okay?" she lightly dropped to the ground and walked towards him in concern. Why was he bleeding from the nose?

"Oh no you don't, Konohamaru-sama," the man snarled, "I won't fall for your perverted jutsu anymore, even if you've gotten much prettier." His hand shot out and grasped the surprised kunoichi's left breast in a firm grip, "Aha, you've even improved the way the flesh feels underneath. But no matter." He squinted in a valiant attempt to prevent the renewed gush of blood from his nose.

It was then that Tenten made a serious attempt on the life of a fellow Leaf nin. And a special jounin, at that.

* * *

"Ah, Tenten, my blossom, you are just in time for dinner!" Gai greeted them genially at the gates of the village. "Lee and Neji are already waiting for us!" He flashed a smile of chidori-level brightness at the Nara, who was trailing very carefully behind the seething girl, "You are most welcome to join us in our youthful meal, Shikamaru!"

"Er.."

"Please do, Shikamaru," Tenten looked at him over her shoulder, "It's the least I can do for all the trouble I've caused you."

"Trouble?" Gai was concerned. "Did something happen during your mission?"

"Nothing to worry about, sensei," Tenten smiled up at him in reassurance. "I might need you to vouch for my loyalty to the village though. I just tried to kill Ebisu-san earlier."

"Dinner sounds great," Shikamaru cut in and walked past them rapidly, "Where are you meeting up with Neji and Lee?"

* * *

The waiters in the restaurant were worried. From long experience, Team Gai had made itself known as a rowdy bunch, with two green men loudly expressing their views on anything and everything and relating it somehow to the power of youth. The white-eyed Hyuuga would restrain himself until he could bear it no longer and explode into a rant of fate at some point or very loudly tell them to shut up with the challenges and leave him be, while the bun-haired girl would make hush-hush noises at them all and giggle once in a while at their antics. The servers liked the girl. She was normal.

Now, there was complete silence at the table. Except for Tenten, who was telling a gripping tale.

"And then he grabbed and squished me here." She said matter-of-factly, pointing at her heart, only lower, "So I put a kunai through his hand, and another five in each of his legs, and for the life of me, I could not remember at that point where the rest of my weapons were, so I had at him with my fists." She gave a short laugh, "Turns out I was carrying my weapons scroll behind me all along. Totally forgot. Funny, isn't it?"

She dug into the food. They watched her for a long moment, then Gai woodenly took up a pair of chopsticks. Neji and Lee jerkily did the same. Shikamaru stayed quiet as a mouse. He had decided the only thing to do was get it over with quickly.

"Oh, oh, then Shikamaru used his kage mane jutsu to help me hold Ebisu in place and break his nose--" Tenten smiled brightly at Shikamaru, who scratched the back of his neck.

"Don't mention it," he muttered, "I put him under a genjutsu first so he thought you paralyzed him with a poisoned kunai."

Two against one was unfair, and he hadn't wanted to team up against the jounin, but he'd be damned if he had to treat Tenten to the hot springs again. Even _he_ wasn't up to that much relaxation.

"--but it turns out it's all Konohamaru's fault because he'd previously used a modified Sexy No Jutsu on Ebisu, who then thought I was Konohamaru in a different henge." Tenten continued, tapping her chin thoughtfully as she chewed, "I suppose that means Ebisu considers me sexy, but it still doesn't make things right."

"It really is funny," Gai spoke, as if suddenly realizing something, "Because I just remembered I have an upcoming mission with Ebisu. I hope he will be sufficiently recovered by then."

"I'm sure he will be," Tenten said. "The other jounin instructor, the one in charge of the other genin team, said she'd get him to the hospital as quickly as possible and explain to the nurses." The other jounin instructor had been at the river, fishing, of all things. She had laughed and laughed at the sight of the mangled Ebisu.

Tenten stirred her noodles contemplatively, as the rest of them put more food in their mouths, "Oh, but Gai-sensei, I didn't _really _try to kill him. When he stopped putting up a fight I stopped targeting his vital points, honest."

"It was well that you realized the unyouthfulness of such an effort," Gai smile was benign and shimmery. "I will be sure to discuss the matter with him thoroughly."

"And that sounded like a very interesting town you visited, Tenten," Neji gravely took a dumpling from the serving plate. "Lee and I have been meaning to go sightseeing on our day off tomorrow, it will be culturally enriching to find out more about the festival traditions there." Lee tilted his head in agreement, for once having nothing to say.

"Count me out," Tenten groused, "I've had enough of that place."

"Of course, of course," they all nodded. And proceeded with dinner.

* * *

Shikamaru was implicitly roped into taking Tenten home. He didn't have to be a genius to decipher the looks her team mates were giving him when they parted ways at the restaurant.

"Your place is along the way," he immediately said when she turned to him to mouth a goodbye at the restaurant exit, "I'll walk you."

She smiled. And he was melting again, just like that.

"We will see you after we get back, Tenten," Lee opened his arms and Tenten gave him a swift hug, then did the same to Neji and Gai. Two of them were teary-eyed, while one was his normal grim self. She waved as they blurred out of sight, then skipped down the road for a bit before slowing to match Shikamaru's sedate stride.

"We're a weird team, I know. But they really know how to cheer me up," she commented, placing her hands behind her head and staring up at the night sky. "Thank you for having dinner with us, Shikamaru."

Shikamaru shrugged, hands deep in his pockets. He didn't know what to say to this girl. She was troublesome, but he liked her. And so did a lot of perverts, apparently.

"Will you--"

"Do you--"

They spoke at the same time, then stopped, looking quizzically at each other.

"Let me guess," Tenten held up a finger, "You were going to ask me if I would mind writing up the report of the mission?"

_No, I wasn't_. "Yes, that's right," it was a much better response. Shikamaru had been about to ask if she liked to play shogi. _What a stupid question_, he mentally kicked himself. Great way to impress upon her that he was a complete lame ass. His most exciting, romantic come-on was an invitation to play a board game.

He had nothing in common with her, really. It was best to make a clean break and distance himself from now on.

"Sure, for a price." Was she still talking to him? Shikamaru found himself nodding even before she named her condition.

"I want access to Practice Area #44. Someone of your rank has to approve it."

That was dangerous. "You'll be alone?" he asked.

"The risks are acceptable."

And she gave him that smile.

Shikamaru never made decisions against his better judgment. She'd improved greatly, but the Forest of Death was still challenging even for chuunin, especially if they were alone. But she was so _not-pushy, _and sweet, and --

"I'll see what I can do." He was talking again without thinking. Why did he keep doing that around her!

"Hehe." Her chuckle gave it away, and his eyes narrowed.

"Practicing your feminine wiles on me, huh?"

"Hai!" she pumped a fist in the air, "I think I'm getting the hang of this."

"Pft," Shikamaru was not one to be off-balance for long. "That was it?"

Tenten looked smug. "Well, I smiled coyly at you and fluttered my eyelashes, and you were taken in. I think that's a good start."

When did she flutter--? He gave her a despairing look as she nodded to herself in triumph. _There's a little Naruto in everyone_, he supposed. A kinder way of calling her an idiot. But then, he liked Naruto. So, he figured, it was okay to like her.

He went into shock as she pulled him lightly into a hug.

"Don't worry Shikamaru," she confided, "This whole 'womanly attributes' thing doesn't really suit me. I won't try to use them to get you to do stuff for me anymore."

She squeezed briefly then let go, waving goodbye as she entered the gate to her house.

He... should have seen that coming.

Shikamaru could be forgiven if he was tempted once or twice to skip down the road on the way home.


	4. Things that make you go boom

_**Chapter 4: **Things that make you go boom_

* * *

Her handwriting on the mission report was much neater than his own.

Shikamaru wondered if she could take dictation for future reports he would have to submit. He'd repay her with food. From last night's dinner, it was obvious that she was a ravenous eater.

His musing was cut short as she snapped the mission report scroll shut playfully and presented him with another piece of paper.

"Sign here, please," were those stars in her eyes?

He looked down at the approval form for the usage of Practice Area #44, a.k.a. The Forest of Death. With a sigh of resignation, he affixed his official mark.

"Thank you!" he wouldn't mind if she hugged him again, but her beaming up at him was just as welcome.

Her grin was unlike Temari's arrogant smirk or Ino's self-assured smile, and had nowhere near the blinding power of Gai's, but that was a good thing. He was hard put to describe it exactly. Certainly it had some of the Team Gai fire in it, but it also held a quiet confidence, as well as a measure of sweetness that was all Tenten.

"Hey," the sparkle in her eyes faded a bit when he didn't respond and merely stared at her. He was doing that a lot today. Tenten supposed he didn't want to voice his reservations about her request. It was not like him to worry. At all. And she didn't want to be the cause of it.

"Don't worry, I'll be careful," she assured him, eyes searching his. "I know it's a lot to ask for you to trust me on this. You won't regret it."

His gaze softened and he smiled back, slightly, "I guess I won't."

She was talking about the signed form. He wasn't.

* * *

For the next few weeks, Shikamaru tried to shirk as many chuunin duties as he could, which was normal for him. He wasn't anywhere near Kakashi's level yet, but he had his own personal style of avoiding anything too tedious.

"Found you!" Ino's head popped through the stairwell opening leading to the roof of his favorite cloud-viewing spot. "Slacking off as usual huh?"

"So you're back from your mission, finally," he didn't take his eyes off the sky. "How was it?"

"Too long." Ino shook her head, "Tell you about it during dinner. My treat! Usual place. Bring a date."

She was gone before he could turn to look at her. Great, she must have talked to Chouji already.

* * *

Shikamaru paused at the eastern entrance to the practice grounds. He'd expected Tenten would take some tracking down, she was a ninja after all, but the violent explosions sounding within the the area told him it would not be as hard as he thought to find her.

His initial theory was that she had asked him, and not Gai, for a permit to use the training grounds because Lee was practically conjoined at the hip to their sensei, and she wouldn't want of her team mates to see a new technique she might be developing to surprise them during their next training, or perhaps even during the upcoming Chuunin exams, where there would be a chance, however slight, of her being pitted against one of them.

Shikamaru unlocked the gate and entered with a sigh. That couldn't be the real reason she had asked him though, since she would have needed some guidance from Gai either way, if the complicated sequence of explosive tags he could hear going off was anything to judge by. These weren't ordinary explosives Tenten was training with. The ground shook beneath him and various forest creatures were either clinging for dear life to tree branches or scurrying in the undergrowth toward burrows and anywhere far away from the deadly noise.

He came upon some clever triple traps and made a wide detour after he noticed the forested area for the next hundred meters or so seemed to be completely dedicated to her trap-setting training. He would just walk through the large barren parts he found scorched to an ember then, with no remaining trees or plants, and follow the trail from there.

"Get out of the way!" a shriek and a body hurtling to knock him sideways were his only warning before a deafening explosion threw them back a few meters and, after a hard landing, had him automatically twisting to shield Tenten from the shower of rubble as smoke engulfed the area.

"Tenten," he coughed, "Why --_hukh_-- would you waste chakra to disguise an explosive tag as a rock when there's no one around to fool?"

"Wait." she took her earplugs out and asked him to repeat the question. He had to read her lips because he was pretty deaf himself.

"I'm simulating a real battle, and timing my chakra usage," she said crossly, gaze darting frantically up and down his body to take in any injuries, "Are you hurt?"

If this was a battle simulation, then Tenten was almost ready to wage war against a small country by herself.

"Never mind me. You're a mess." He frowned back at her. She looked like a burnt zombie. She obviously hadn't left the training grounds since she'd obtained the permit, and was covered in soot and bandages. Her face looked leaner as well, something that tended to happen if one spent an extended period in the Forest of Death. Although the name would probably changed to Desolate Wasteland of Death if she'd decimated the other parts of the training grounds as much as she had this portion with her explosives.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she said hurriedly, "I told you not to worry. Limbs intact, comparably healthy," she grinned and her teeth were comically white in her ash-darkened face. "Were you checking on me?"

"You'll need to learn medical jutsus," he sat up and changed the topic so he wouldn't have to tell her just yet that he was going to ask her to dinner. He was still gathering his nerve. "This technique is going to be pretty dangerous for you and your team before you get your timing right."

"Neji and Lee will survive," she said, smile dimming although he couldn't fathom why. "They're quite adaptable. That's why I wanted to surprise--" she was overcome with a fit of coughing, and hissed a little in pain when Shikamaru gingerly patted her on the back.

"Let's get you to the hospital," his tone brooked no argument as he slung her arm over his shoulders and helped her to her feet.

"You know," she tried not to chuckle so as not to trigger more coughing, "That is Gai-sensei's second most-used statement during training, after 'springtime of youth'."

Shikamaru felt this was one circumstance where he shouldn't be enjoying the sensation at having her arm around him again. But really, he couldn't help it.


	5. Shikamaru tries a pep talk

_**Chapter 5: **__Shikamaru tries a pep talk_

_(and Tenten continues to be somewhat clueless)_

* * *

"All better," Sakura stepped back and surveyed her work with satisfaction. Tenten was cleaned up, healed, and good as new.

Shikamaru was impressed with Haruno Sakura's progress as the Hokage's apprentice. He'd heard she had the best chakra control in their generation, and it seemed she had a natural knack for the medical arts.

"Thanks. I feel much better," Tenten said, stretching in relief. "You're amazing, Sakura. Even better than most of the doctors here."

And Tenten _would _know most of the doctors here by now, Shikamaru thought wryly. Having Lee for a team mate meant she hung out here more often than at Ichiraku.

Sakura blushed. "Shishou is an excellent teacher. She says that each team should have at least one ninja trained in rudimentary medical jutsu, since we're all learning deadlier techniques, like yours, and our missions are going to get more dangerous from now on." She smiled at Tenten, "Ino and Hinata are going to be taking lessons soon. Would you like to be the representative for your team?"

"Ah." Tenten's face was blank. Then she nodded slightly, "Sure, Shikamaru told me the same thing."

* * *

Something was wrong. Tenten's expression was shrouded, and she didn't really look at him after leaving the hospital.

"You changed your outfit," he tried to ease into another conversation. It was a trite opening, but he wasn't baiting anymore. He just wanted to find out if she was okay.

"I decided I needed sleeves when I singed most of the hair off my arms," Tenten gave a short laugh and a brief glance at him. "You like it?"

"It's all right, I guess," what was he supposed to answer? He didn't pay attention to women's fashion.

"Better than the harlequin costume?" Well, he'd walked straight into that one. Just like her explosive tag.

Perhaps this could be considered flirting, if he hadn't sensed that she was actually deflecting him from his objective. While her teasing was genuine, she was also hiding something. Mere idle talk on the street would accomplish nothing.

With a stretch and a yawn, he asked, "I'm going over to my team's training grounds. Want to join me?"

She looked at him as if he'd sprouted another head. Had _The _Nara Shikamaru just invited someone to actually train with him? Voluntarily? She nodded, despite Sakura's admonition for her to take it easy for a while. This was something she had to see.

* * *

Tenten sighed, smiling a little despite herself, as she lay on the grass beside the lazy Chuunin on Team 10's training grounds and watched the clouds go by.

The breeze was cool and the sound of crickets soothed her. Tenten closed her eyes briefly. She meditated with Neji sometimes, but this was more enjoyable.

"So, was it something I said?"

She turned her head to look at him. "Huh?"

"You've been down ever since we went to the hospital."

"Worried?" she tried teasing again. She'd said she wouldn't use feminine wiles to make him _do _stuff, but she thought they could be utilized as a deterrent to make him _refrain _from certain acts, such as asking prying questions.

"Yes."

"Why?" she pressed. Shikamaru always said he hated troublesome things. She would do her best to approximate a 'troublesome thing' then, and maybe he would let her be.

Shikamaru contemplated the clouds for a while longer, then propped himself up on an elbow to face her directly. "Because if it was something I said, I'd apologize."

Tenten could think of nothing teasing or coy to say. He looked no different from any other time she'd been with him, but suddenly he was not just a younger genius shinobi paired with her for a mission. There was something in his eyes, both serious and thoughtful, that spoke of more than the concern of a professional colleague.

Tenten had a small, small suspicion. Maybe Shikamaru had come to think of her as... a friend.

She smiled gently at him, piecing together the times she'd found him oddly silent and staring at her for no apparent reason. "That's sweet, Shikamaru."

Yes, she thought, he might even want to spend time with her outside of missions. They were spending time now, weren't they? That was good, she wouldn't mind. He was actually very nice, despite his neanderthal views on the role of women in society. She was beginning to believe that, like all his first moves in a fight, one's first impression of Shikamaru was also a carefully planned ruse on his part.

He scowled. She kept calling him sweet. It offended his sense of masculinity.

"Well?" He prodded, trying not to be distracted by the warmth in her eyes and the way the wind tousled her bangs.

"And," she turned back to watch the feathery-shaped clouds scud across the dusky sky. "I was just thinking that Sakura seems to be doing well, and I'm being a complete jerk for resenting everyone around me for excelling while I continue to waddle along in mediocrity."

Shikamaru was surprised someone on a team with the forceful optimism and sheer determination of Maito Gai would ever lack confidence in themselves. "You work very hard, Tenten. Why do you think you're mediocre?"

Tenten sighed, rolling to her side so she was facing him as well, head pillowed on one bent arm. "I _like _to sleep. I like lying around like this, relaxing. I loved the hot springs. But I don't have your IQ to make up for it, or Naruto's weirdly excessive chakra, or Lee's frenetic passion to train to death and beyond, or a bloodline limit or--" She trailed off with another sigh.

"Now I'm whining. Sorry to pile this on you, Shikamaru. I'm just tired and a little shell-shocked, I guess."

Shikamaru didn't know why she was apologizing, he had asked after all. Her other hand lay relaxed on the ground between them, and he covered it carefully with his own.

"You're underestimating yourself," he told her. "Who has the most kills on your team?"

"That's not much of a standard to go by," she scoffed, "I make the easy kills, the gazillion minions, I call them. Although it's really just been a few dozens. I haven't passed the hundred mark yet, but it's only a matter of time," her eyes became dreamy, "With explosives, it'll be a cinch."

Shikamaru was little daunted at her easy admission to being a mass murderer. He had ended twelve lives in his career thus far.

"But Neji and Lee usually take down the boss ninjas," Tenten lost the dreamy look and re-adopted the previous one of discontent. "It's the typical distract and attack strategy. I give them openings and they get all the glory."

No wonder she was working with loud, flashy explosives now. She just wanted a little attention. And to kill more boss ninjas.

"But you can beat Neji and Lee," Shikamaru pointed out. When she looked ready to object, he added, "I know about the taffy pit incident."

She blinked, then smiled at the recollection, "It was funny. I was only trying to recreate the ability of Kidomaru. Neji had sticky candy in his hair for days. He actually threw a fit." The event had forced Gai to postpone his regular challenges to Kakashi for two weeks, to ensure the Hyuuga would not Jyuuken Tenten to death "accidentally" during sparring. She thought it was worth it. He had been, without a doubt, completely and utterly beaten by Tenten that time.

"How do you know I can beat Lee though?" she inquired. "I haven't forced him to do eight hundred finger push ups for having lost to me yet."

"You can exploit his weakness even better," Shikamaru smirked, "If Kimimaro had a Dance of the Camellia, you only need to henge a few shadow clones and perform a group Dance of the Sakura. He'd be powerless against that."

It was fun, thinking of silly strategies to beat one's opponent. And with Lee, that might really work. Tenten burst into giggles at the idea. "I might beat Lee but Sakura would probably kill me after."

"Dance nicely, then."

He squeezed her hand and she smiled at him in gratitude for cheering her up. So Tenten had her down days too. Shikamaru was strangely comforted to know that he wasn't the only one who sometimes regretted not being able to do more.

Tenten's stomach grumbled, and they both laughed. This was his chance.

"Would you like to --"

"Found you again!" Ino exclaimed and they jerked their hands away from each other as if stung, hastily sitting up as the blonde girl approached them. "Hi Tenten. It was getting late, so I wanted to check if Shikamaru had gotten around to asking you to dinner yet? My treat."

Tenten cast an inquiring gaze at Shikamaru, who scratched his chin in annoyance. "That'swhatIwasaboutto--"

"I'd love to." Her smile was back, and he was glad he had a part in restoring it.

* * *

_A/N: I assume they debriefed after the Sasuke retrieval mission and everyone knows how each fight went._

_Wouldn't it be sad if the Naruto series reached its conclusion and nothing every really happened to Tenten? I hope she at least turns out to be a princess from China (or its naruto-verse equivalent). Or a member of a singing girl group (Nobody nobody...). Or a Sailor Soldier. I don't know, just... something._


	6. Playing the game

_A/N: Why do some stories have a disclaimer on every chapter? Even if it takes a long time between updates, it seems unlikely that during the interval the fic writer would have suddenly acquired rights of ownership to the original series. Or maybe there are people who click on stories and start reading right in the middle chapter or something, who need to be warned? Hoo well. I've opted not to put per-chapter disclaimers, only the first chappy. While it does make for additional word count, for those who are impressed by such things, my problem is trying to shorten this darn thing. Brevity! I need brevity!_

_Sorry to rant. On with the story._

* * *

_**Chapter 6: **Playing the Game_

* * *

"Whoa. You brought a date?" Asuma grinned at Tenten and Shikamaru when they arrived at the yakiniku restaurant Team Ten frequented.

"Only if you did," Shikamaru languidly returned , casually letting his gaze rest on Kurenai, who was sitting at an adjacent table with her team. Kiba, mouth still full of barbecue, hollered a greeting at him and Tenten. Hinata gave a tiny, demure wave and Shino inclined his head to acknowledge their entrance.

Asuma got the hint about glass houses and threw no more stones. "Eh, well the food should be arriving any time now. What's the occasion anyway, Ino? Good mission?"

"_Great _mission," Ino rolled her eyes. "I'm just celebrating setting a new record for myself using my clan technique, I was stuck in a man's body for so long I've forgotten how to sit down to pee."

The food began to arrive in piles. This was Team Ten, after all. They were seated at a much larger table, to accomodate Chouji's increasing girth, so there was plenty of room for another person.

"You can only hold the mind-body switch technique for a few minutes at most," Shikamaru slouched into the chair, eyes closing in a way that showed he was figuring something out. "Your target was a semi-invalid, I suppose, and you would have him come back to his quarters when you couldn't hold the jutsu any longer."

"Yup," Ino tapped Chouji's hand away smartly as he reached for the sizzling meat and offered the first dish to Tenten, "Guests first."

"Thanks," Tenten took only half the amount of what she felt like eating. She'd been told by Neji and Lee that she was the glutton among them. She loved her team mates, but sometimes they were blunter than her bo staff when they were giving their opinion.

"Hmp," Shikamaru pushed the rest of what she wanted onto her plate, "You either overtrain or starve, there is no happy medium for you, is there?"

She felt heat creep up her face and glanced around to find the rest of Shikamaru's team, not to mention Kurenai's team, watching them in entertainment.

"What was it like being a guy?" she picked up brightly from where Ino left off and the girl smiled knowingly, but obliged.

"Horrible. I don't know how guys do it." She swept her ponytail back off her shoulder and permitted her suffering team mate to finally touch the food. Chouji would sacrifice first dibs on food only for Ino. "There's so much hair all over, and the smell!" Her eyes misted up, "But you know what I miss most?" They shook their heads, happy to listen as long as she was footing the bill.

"Shopping," a dramatic moan that was all Ino, "Tenten, you _must_ come shop with me tomorrow. Sakura's so busy doing whatever. I don't even think I know how to anymore."

"I always make a list?" Tenten ventured, "Usually I go early on days when there's a sale, meat is so expensive nowadays. Oh, and it's good to bring your own bag, my own personal way of being green without having to wear the jumpsuit."

Asuma looked away, trying not to smile. Ino's mouth was agape. Chouji ate like there was no tomorrow. Shikamaru sighed, and chewed.

* * *

"Shopping," Tenten tested the word out in the night air as Shikamaru once again walked her home. "Am I having a-- girl's day out with Ino tomorrow?"

"Who knows, maybe it's a date. Ino did occupy a male body for a lengthy period of time," his dry tone made her nudge him lightly.

"She's much girlier than I'll ever be, don't say that," she laughed. "Your team is really nice, Shikamaru. I felt very at ease with them."

Shikamaru decided it wasn't a very good habit for him to walk with his hands in his pockets. It prevented him from holding her hand. But to try that now would be too weird. It was beginning to frustrate him.

His dad would laugh, because the laziest rookie in Konoha was not known for getting impatient at inaction. That was usually his default state. Shikamaru wanted it to be over with, however. All the uncertainty, the strange fluttering in his stomach, the torment of being so close to her but being unable to touch her in affection.

_Maybe I do need a pushy woman_, he sighed mentally, _She can make all the moves and I'll just lay back and let her do whatever she likes to me_.

"I could tie you down." Tenten suggested.

"What?" he jerked back to reality. "There'd be no need. I wouldn't struggle." What were they talking about?

Tenten began to giggle, aware that he had drifted off again while she was talking. "I was saying, your speed needs work. I think you could really up your game if you did a little training similar to Lee's. I could borrow his beginner weights and help you tie them down to your legs the first few times."

More training? Ugh, when he said a pushy woman might be better, he had preferred it to be in terms of taking the initiative in making romantic overtures.

"Think of it," she dazzled him with that smile of hers that always short-circuited his synapses, "as a sign of gratitude for your allowing _me _to train in the Forest of Death."

He regarded her as they stopped in front of her house. Now he understood why she had asked him, and not Gai, for help in using the restricted practice area.

"Sneaky." He moved a little closer to her, studying her reaction. Her grin widened. Minx. "So you're beholden to me, are you? And you're so grateful that you're offering training in exchange for training?" He shook his head, "Who put you up to it?"

"Asuma-sensei," she revealed without compunction, "Said you had too much dirt on him already so it's impossible for him to make you ever do extra training." His sensei must have approached her the moment that he learned they'd been assigned a mission together.

They stared at each other for a long moment. Shikamaru got the feeling that she was enjoying his proximity, rather than being threatened by it, if her continued grinning was any indication. He himself was starting to feel a little lightheaded. So that was why Asuma had slipped some sake into his drink earlier. Liquid courage. If he bent his head just a little closer--

Tenten tiptoed up and whispered into his ear, "Let me know soon, ok? I didn't mention it in the report, but you _were _kind of slow on reaction time during the mission." With a wave, she bid him goodnight.

Oh, she was ruthless. Sweet, completely un-pushy, and ruthless.

He wanted her so badly.


	7. The blue dress

_**Chapter 7: **The blue dress_

* * *

The Ino-Tenten shopping spree turned out to be an in-house rummage instead, for Neji and Lee returned from their visit to Mr. Tai's town bearing all the gifts the client had wanted to give Tenten sealed up in various scrolls.

"Eh?" Tenten's eyebrows shot up as Neji silently commenced unloading the fort of luggage in Tenten's living room, "Guys, what exactly did you do?"

"We merely introduced ourselves as extra assistance from Konoha," Lee gave a thumbs up, "To further impress upon Mr. Tai the extent of the youthful capabilities of the shinobi of the Village of Hidden Leaf!"

Tenten's queries only met with more vague and youthful answers, loaded with meaning yet completely nebulous. In the end, she had to concede what she already knew, that Rock Lee could survive the harshest interrogation and not reveal a single iota of information to the enemy, although he would enlighten them most heartily on the glories of youthful tenacity.

"Neji, speak," she pleaded in a final attempt as her team mates finished unpacking and turned to leave. "What really happened to the client? Did you beat him up or something?"

"The blue dress would look nice on you," Neji said conversationally, "I took the liberty of removing the more—questionable items--- from the packages."

"Agh!" Tenten lunged to grab one of them, she wasn't decided on which, by the shoulders to give them a thorough shaking, but they eluded her, Lee with a wide grin and Neji with the barest hint of a smirk, and escaped just as Ino was about to knock.

Ino blinked at the two gusts of wind that rushed past her when the door sprang open.

"What on earth was that?" she glanced towards Tenten and saw the loot. "WOW!"

* * *

"And so that's what happened," Tenten ended.

Ino chortled as she shimmied out of the silky purple pajamas, which could hardly be called pajamas really, more of just a chemise and girly boxers, and tossed it onto the growing pile of "take home" stuff she was amassing. Tenten would have been happy to give them all away but Ino would not hear of it. Each item passed through her scrutiny and Tenten had to promise she would actually use the ones that obtained the Yamanaka stamp of approval.

"Nothing like ribbons and lace to remind a girl of who she is," she hummed in satisfaction as she draped a sparkly scarf over herself and continued sorting through the gift stash.

Tenten sympathized. The Shintensin no Jutsu literally took a person out of their head and into another's, and extended use could get tricky if you didn't have a very strong sense of self. Ino made a deliberate choice to be who she was. If she wasn't her own person, she might end up being someone else.

"Very nice, he even packed matching undies for you," Ino twirled the high-grade cotton material around her finger in a jaunty manner, "These are rather tame though, considering how you described him."

"Neji said he'd gotten rid of the more questionable items," Tenten said wearily. "I suppose thongs and transparent stuff fall under that category."

Ino 'hmphed!' at that, and motioned for Tenten to fit the blue gown Neji had mentioned. Tenten obediently slipped the first inner layer over her head.

"Speaking of Neji," Ino settled back comfortably on 'her' pile of clothes, unmindful of the fact that she was in her underwear in someone else's house, "What's up between you two? Are you dating?"

"Urk," Tenten got stuck midway. One arm waved about over her head as she struggled to find the correct opening to insert her other hand.

Raising an eyebrow, Ino got up to help her. "There's no avoiding _me_ when I'm asking a question Tenten. My family specializes in interrogation techniques."

"You should try Lee then," Tenten muttered, getting the neckline of the inner slip unstuck from one of her hair buns and finally pulling it down. "My team mates are like brothers to me, Ino."

At the blonde girl's skeptical look, Tenten explained further as she pulled on the second layer of soft blue material, "I don't blame Sakura for falling in love with her team mate. Sasuke's cute, missing nin or not." They exchanged a look of total understanding that only the female of the species could attain.

"But I never got to feel that way around Neji and Lee, since they both had a lot of problems back when we were younger. Unlike Sasuke, Neji wanted _lots _of one-on-one training, and he pretty much beat me up everyday. That sort of thing puts romance out of the picture early on, unless you're like Mr. Tai, who loves pain. Besides, he was so distant and hung up on his idea of fate, it was a real turn off," She twisted this way and that until Ino held her still to teach her how to wear the outfit properly. She settled for holding her arms out like a doll while watching Ino carefully fuss over her.

"I mean, he was exceptionally advanced in terms of ninja skill, but emotionally, he was very childish because he had this whole fatalistic attitude going. I was always trying to get Neji to train as part of a team rather than isolate himself. I kind of mothered him." She shrugged, "and when you get into _that _kind of mindset, it would feel very wrong to suddenly change maternal feelings into romantic ones."

Ino wasn't buying it, and said so as she adjusted the hem so it fell just the right way about Tenten's feet, "You were kids. And Naruto fixed Neji's fate complex up and now he's hot. You're growing up. Best friends can become lovers eventually, right?"

Tenten shook her head. "Actually, it hurt that it took someone who wasn't part of our team to beat sense into Neji."

Ino realized she might have been too flippant, and fell silent, but Tenten didn't look mad. She seemed to be mulling over what she'd just said.

"I think," she paused and tried to find the proper wording, "I'm proud of Neji, but I could help him more by being his team mate and friend. I want to connect him with more people, not isolate him further, which is what would happen if he got romantically involved with me, we'd just have our own little world and go on excluding everyone. I don't want that."

She smiled wryly at Ino, "See? I don't regard him as a potential catch, just a team mate in need of my emotional guidance," She pursed her lips thoughtfully, "I might even set him up with someone when I think he's ready. The girl must pass muster with me, of course."

"That sounds very familiar," Ino murmured to herself.

"What?"

"Oh," Ino gave her a brilliant smile, "I was just thinking, that it sounds about right. Maybe Neji does consider you as some kind of sister figure, if it's normal for him to join forces with Lee to travel to a distant town for the sake of terrorizing a pervert in defense of your honor."

"Hey," Tenten protested as Ino chuckled and finished the complicated series of knots behind the dress and stood back to survey her work. And Ino considered getting Tenten in a dress to indeed be an accomplishment only Ino Yamanaka or the Hokage could achieved. "You're very pretty!"

Tenten struck a pose and they burst out laughing.

A rap on the gate had Ino scrambling to put something more decent on, while Tenten went outside to see who it was.

Shikamaru hadn't known Tenten was a princess in her own home.

"You look… nice," she suppressed her laughter at his awestruck look.

"Thank you. It's not very practical to fight in, but," she threw up her hands in surrender, "Ino is very persuasive. Hello, Chouji." She greeted the Akamichi member of the most recent incarnation of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio, and he smiled back.

"Pushy, you mean," Shikamaru sighed, "Are you two done with whatever it is girls do together? Giggling and such?"

"I heard that," Ino came up and glared at her team mate. "We were discussing Tenten's love life, in case you were wondering."

"We were?" Tenten was amazed. "I thought we were just playing dress-up."

"That was a diversion," Ino said knowledgeably, "The first strike is always a feint."

Shikamaru grimaced at the perversion of his strategy.

* * *

Ino and Chouji left together, with Chouji carrying all of Ino's newly-acquired possessions at her behest. Ino gave a wave to Tenten and a wink to Shikamaru before leaving.

"Tea?" Tenten asked politely, pretending the entire living room was not strewn with the remnants of Ino's frenzied looting.

"Don't bother," the Nara yawned, looking anywhere but at Tenten, "I thought about your offer."

He'd had to _meditate_ on it, really. Extra training was against everything Shikamaru stood for. No matter how he looked at it though, speed was something he needed. It was crucial to improving his fighting technique and would give him more time to assess and think during a mission. His fight with Tayuya alone proved that. Also, the Hokage seemed determined to plunge him into A-class missions despite his neophyte Chuunin status, and he was likely to get his team killed if he didn't do something to keep up.

He understood the fragile balance of power between the Hidden Villages now after Orochimaru's attack, and the need for every ninja to be ready to render service. If he wanted to live long enough to see his kids become independent and marry, he'd have to improve somehow.

He realized he had been staring off into the distance. Tenten was the picture of a lady in waiting. He averted his gaze again. That dress was really distracting. And it wasn't even form-fitting. It simply draped gracefully over her body, hinting at the slender limbs beneath, and supple skin… And there he went again.

"Shikamaru?" Tenten was a little hurt that he didn't want to look at her, hadn't he said she was pretty?

He blinked, and said, rather abruptly, "Let's do it."

She cheered up immensely at those three words.

"Great! Let me get out of these clothes first. Could you untie these, please?" Tenten knelt facing away from him, pointing to her back. After a moment's hesitation, Shikamaru placed shaky fingers on the satin-like material. She was just asking him to help with the outer layer of the dress right? She would go to the next room to change after that, he told himself sternly.

The door burst open in the most dynamic entry Shikamaru had ever had the misfortune to witness, and an absolutely _flaming_ vision of youth in a green outfit glowered at him menacingly, "Take your hands off her!"

If Lee was angry enough to open Gates, he must have overheard the last two exchanges and gotten the entirely wrong idea. Shikamaru groaned from where he lay crushed under Lee's foot. So… troublesome…

"Lee!" Tenten's irate voice was becoming distant and Shikamaru saw dark spots dance before his eyes.

"Tenten, when you asked to borrow my training weights I was most willing to do so in aid of a friend. But this dishonourable behaviour towards you is unacceptable and I must—"

The song of numerous pieces of sharp metal flying through the air and various "thwacks!" indicating a large man-sized object being pinned by kunai to the wall were among the last things Shikamaru heard. Tenten must have found a way to fight in a dress after all. As the raised voice of a most beautiful girl yelling at her team mate to stop acting like an idiot faded into oblivion as he realized—

Tenten vs. Lee. No contest.


	8. Tenten vs Temari

_**Chapter 8: **Tenten vs. Temari _

* * *

The smell of cigarette smoke made Shikamaru turn around to raise a tired eyebrow at his sensei.

"Hey, old man." Asuma laughed, clapping Shikamaru on the back. Instead of stumbling forward, the Chuunin simply swayed, fastened to the ground by the weights on his feet. "You're moving slower than Tsunade's slugs."

"Your idea, I heard," Shikamaru grumbled, painfully raising one foot in front of the other. How Lee had survived this training, he would never know. The young green man had apologized profusely for attacking him the other day, saying Tenten had explained everything and he was a fool for thinking Shikamaru was undressing her for prurient reasons. This had caused Tenten to get angry all over again, because was Lee suggesting that _no one_ would want to undress her with such an objective? Shikamaru intervened by passing out once more and they'd rushed him to the hospital posthaste.

"Not my fault you picked a hard girl to win," the bearded jounin chuckled, blowing smoke into the air.

"When you have a kid of your own, you're going to have to quit smoking." Shikamaru muttered, trying to walk at a more normal pace.

"Not at all," his sensei said jovially, impliedly admitting, just as Shikamaru had just admitted, that he was not objecting to the other's statement, "I can entertain the little tyke like so--"

He blew a smoke elephant into the air. With some facial contortions similar to an Uchiha doing a Katon no jutsu, little baby elephants followed the first smoky pachyderm.

"That's a lot of work to justify a bad habit," was Shikamaru's only comment. "Excuse me as I finish my first of fifty laps around the training field."

He took one arduous step. And another.

Asuma guffawed at his expense, then proceeded to cough on some of his own smoke.

* * *

Tenten tore off the leotards and leggings in relief. Konoha was taking in thrice the number of C and D-class missions to make up for lost income due to the Chuunin and Jounin ninja concentrating on the village's security, and the Rookie 9 together with Team Gai were handling the bulk of the client requests, because the Hokage was bending the rules for them and sending them out without Jounin supervision and on solo missions, no less.

Of course, it was really not all that thrilling to be on solo D-Class missions which consisted of cat-catching, baby-sitting, filling in as soprano in a singing quartet and substituting as an aerobics instructor in a gym, but Tenten had set a standard of excellence for herself in everything she did, and she would use these memories to push herself harder to become Chuunin as soon as possible.

She missed her team. Lee was stuck doing much the same work she was while Gai was on border patrol, but Neji was enjoying the benefit of the Hyuuga preferential treatment for the first time since Hiashi had finally apologized for his actions and, through some strings being pulled by his clan, was being placed on increasingly challenging missions with Chuunin teams. Nowadays though, he was no longer being sent on difficult missions because of family influence, but solely based on recognition of his formidable skill.

Tenten and Lee did not begrudge him this, knowing best that Neji was head and shoulders above them in natural talent and needed to test his limits constantly. Lee was not bothered at all by the menial jobs, because he always turned it into an insane test of training somehow and pushed himself no matter what mission was given.

As Tenten went on mission after mindless mission, she occupied her brain by practicing over and over how to calculate instantaneously the amount of energy an explosion would release based on the distance to the persons or structures she wanted to protect. She researched extensively as well on human exposure to whole-body mechanical vibration and repeated shock. She really didn't want to blow up or permanently cripple her team mates when they finally got a mission together.

She'd also started reading up on shogi. For some reason, Asuma-sensei had mentioned to her in passing that Shikamaru missed having an opponent while the jounin was out on missions, and would probably enjoy a challenge from her.

Tenten didn't think she'd be much of a challenge to a genius, but rallied herself with the image of another genius who'd been caught in a simple candy trap, and set to studying shogi strategy guides with a passion.

Presently, however, the chance for some physical training couldn't be wasted, and she was off and running as soon as she'd done her report. The Forest of Death was still open to her, since Shikamaru hadn't revoked the permit issued, so that would be her next destination after the Hokage tower.

"Oi, buns for brains!"

Tenten did not pause -- she'd heard every bun-related joke in the book and the insults slid off her the way water slid off a duck.

She recognized the chakra though, and was prepared for the gust of wind that came shooting at her with hurricane speed. She jumped out of the way in time, coming to rest on a high branch of a tree overlooking the path.

Temari looked at her with familiar arrogance, "I'm talking to you."

"Oh, were you?" Tenten feigned surprise, "I'm sorry, I thought the Kazekage's daughter would have better manners."

The fan-wielder bristled, "I don't need to be polite to trash."

"Maybe you don't know how to be polite at all," Tenten returned. "If you want this to be a productive exchange, either display courtesy, or beat the answer out of me."

She jumped down, and took a ready stance.

Temari scowled, then affected indifference, "I don't have time for silly games. I'm just looking for Shikamaru. Do you know where he is?"

"No."

Temari frowned. "Fine, if that's how it's going to be…" She pulled her fan forward.

"Try courtesy. It's not so bad," a male voice sounded, and Temari turned in shock to see a white-eyed Konoha ninja observing them from yet another tree branch. She hadn't even sensed his presence. His dark hair hung loose and he looked tired, but still very capable of battle.

"Neji," Tenten warned. "My fight."

"I can see that, Tenten," he smiled at her, "I just got back from a mission and thought you might want to spar. I'll wait till you're done here."

Temari thought that Konoha girls were pretty lucky, having all these gorgeous shinobi hunks just walking around the village and giving them those heart-melting smiles. All the men from Suna either wore make up or were plain ugly. Or Gaara.

"Hmp. We _are_ technically allies, so I suppose some basic civil discourse can be managed," she conceded grudgingly. She was sure she could beat the bun-haired brat into a pulp, but even if this Neji person said he wouldn't interfere, she'd seen enough of Leaf Village ninja to know that they didn't take well to bullying. They were soft, in her opinion, yet surprisingly resilient when push came to shove.

"I'm here to coordinate with Konoha regarding the coming Chuunin exams," she said in a more conciliatory tone, "And I was wondering if you could _kindly _tell me where Nara Shikamaru is? I was informed he would serve as liaison for Konoha, and that we would be proceeding to Grass Village together." Her sarcasm was evident, but they would have to take it or leave it. At least she wasn't openly sneering.

Tenten exchanged a look with Neji, then nodded, "I really don't know where he is right now, but I'm on my way to the Hokage tower to hand in a mission report, and we can ask there." Her image dissolved and Temari was a little unsettled that she hadn't noticed she'd been talking to a clone. Tenten had gotten sneakier since their last encounter.

"Shall we?" she turned to see 'Neji' poof back into Tenten, and realized Tenten had gotten a _lot_ sneakier.

"So is this Neji guy real?" she asked curiously as they walked to the tower, "Or some fantasy hunk you dreamed up?"

"He's my team mate. If you're nice, I'll introduce you," Tenten winked.

* * *

_A/N: I like elephants. Not tame ones. Just the pink and dotted ones you see after one too many hallucinogenic mushrooms._

_Sorry it wasn't a 'real' catfight. Most likely, Temari would still beat Tenten in a fair match, but in Konoha territory, I think Tenten would have a pretty good chance. But see, Temari has to suck up now since Tenten is her ticket to Neji. Woohoo. Neji's got a fangirl._


	9. Illadvised correspondence

_**Chapter 9: **Ill-advised correspondence_

* * *

Shikamaru was at the Hokage Tower, having been collared by Shizune and unable to escape reporting for mission assignments any longer, when the two kunoichi arrived.

"Agh. Let Neji do it," he groaned when he heard the news, "He's way beyond Chuunin level anyway."

"Bleat, bleat, like a little crybaby lamb, that's all you ever do," Temari did sneer this time, here was one Leaf shinobi she could not resist bullying.

"And with _this_ person," the young Chuunin shook his head, "It will be a total drag, Hokage-sama."

"We all have our responsibilities, Shikamaru," Tsunade eyed him, "Unless you have some irreconcilable conflict with taking on the position as liaison officer for Konoha, I'm appointing you."

Tenten gave him a look of sympathy and he just wanted to cry on her shoulder, maybe wrap his arms around her tightly…

"Meet you at the gate in half an hour then, baby," Temari taunted and left to check out that tasty-looking dango stall she'd seen along the way.

Tenten submitted her report and bowed respectfully at Tsunade's acknowledging nod. A morose Shikamaru waited for her by the door, and they walked together down the hall toward the tower exit.

"Say," she ventured, "When you get back, maybe we could spar—" his face fell further and Tenten hurried to correct her faux pas, "or play a game of shogi?"

Shikamaru looked depressed for a while longer. Then he sighed and raised his eyes to the sky, resigning himself to yet another mission.

Shogi though. With Tenten. He gave her a small smile. "I'd like that," she heard the gratitude in his voice, "It would be something to look forward to."

He held her gaze a moment longer, and his expression gave her a weird feeling in her gut. It was similar to the feeling she got that night at the festival, that time he never mentioned, and which she left out of all her reports and stories told to team mates and fellow kunoichi.

These short, ephemeral instances caused Tenten to daydream sometimes of the possibility of having Shikamaru as more than a friend.

She decided to give him another encouraging hug. She only hugged team mates, as a rule, but she rationalized that he really needed it, since he was about to go on a long and unpleasant trip. And he'd been her team leader for a brief period recently as well. She could think of a lot of reasons to hug Shikamaru, actually. She'd found he was quite huggable.

"See you, then." She smiled. His eyes were a little glazed as he nodded mechanically before turning around to walk away.

Tenten thought putting in some shogi practice with Asuma-sensei before training in the Forest of Death wouldn't hurt.

* * *

"So, babe," Temari said as they shouldered their packs at the gates of Konoha, "Tell me about this Hyuuga Neji. I heard he's a genius."

What. A. Drag.

* * *

A few weeks later, Tenten was staring at a letter in her hand. Shikamaru's lazy scrawl was unmistakable, but the message was in some strange code she couldn't figure out:

_Dear Tenten,_

_It isn't like me to confess my feelings like this, but I think I might as well let you know, since I'm going to go crazy if I don't._

_I like you._

_I hope we can talk more when I get back from this troublesome liaison mission. If you don't feel the same, I hope we can at least remain friends. _

_Shikamaru_

Tenten mulled it over.

Then she got angry.

It must be obvious to him that she had a crush. He was a genius after all, wasn't he? And now he wanted to take advantage of her feelings and use a relationship with her as an excuse to get out of liaison duty.

She'd been there when the Hokage had said that an irreconcilable conflict was the only way he could avoid being appointed to the job. A romantic connection with one of the examinees was sure to disqualify him from bearing any responsibilities in the Chuunin exams.

Tenten crumpled the paper in her hand into a teeny, tiny wad, and flung it into the fire.

She then began a methodical decimation of the remaining plant life in the training area.

Lee had pleaded with her to spare the squirrels, but let the squirrels be damned! She would need all the practice she could get so she could beat the crap out of that lazy bum.

* * *

Somewhere in Grass Country, Shikamaru sneezed.

Hay fever, he concluded. Even geniuses could err once in a while.

* * *

Just outside the Forest of Death, Ino opened her eyes with a gasp, and flinched as another resounding 'Kaboom!" exploded nearby. She'd barely escaped from the mind of one of the squirrels she'd taken over to watch Tenten's reaction.

"I told you it wasn't a good idea to send her that fake letter," Chouji ate his chips, unperturbed as his team mate cowered behind him.

* * *

A/N: _I know it isn't very charitable of Tenten to jump to such a conclusion about Shika, but a person can get very insecure (and paranoid) when they're in l-- well, you know. _

_I actually like Temari. I think she tends to intimidate, though, and only shows her gentler, more protective side to her siblings/team mates-- hm, doesn't that description also fit a certain stoic member of Team Gai... Kidding, not going there. One crack pairing is enough to break my brain. _


	10. Shikamaru finds out

_**Chapter 10: **Shikamaru finds out _

* * *

Tenten was on a B-rank mission with her team when Shikamaru returned to Konoha. The rest of the Rookie 9, minus Naruto, were training in earnest now that the date of the exam in Grass Village had been set.

He put the journey with Temari out of his mind. If all men married their mothers, he would probably end up with her. She was _that_ scary.

He'd be happy with a strong kunoichi though, with a sweet smile, an appreciation for time spent just watching clouds, and a sense of humor that made him laugh and groan at the same time. And she wanted to play shogi with him too. It had pulled him through many a nerve-racking night camped beside the Suna kunoichi, dreaming about how he would tutor Tenten in the subtleties of the game.

A very subdued Ino was waiting for him at the training grounds.

* * *

"You did what?"

Ino could not recall a time that Shikamaru had ever gotten truly angry. It was too tiring, he claimed. He simply left the scene when he didn't like what was going on, or found ways to make the unpleasantness go away. He was never confrontational, unless there was no other option.

He was angry now, though. And he wasn't leaving.

"I'm sorry!" she said again, face streaked with tears, "I thought—"

"I doubt that," he cut her off, "I doubt that very much. You believe in silly things like love at first sight and a whirlwind romance and all that garbage. You had no right to meddle."

"Shikamaru," Chouji spoke up. "She's sorry." He placed a large hand on Ino's shoulder. "It's my fault too, for not stopping her."

Shikamaru glared at his best friend, probably for the first time in their long and close friendship, as Ino sobbed and his expression remained unforgiving.

"I'm going to try to fix this, and I'll thank you not to do anything else," he muttered, then walked away in disgust.

"He'll come around," Chouji comforted as Ino continued to weep, "I know you only wanted him to be happy."

Chouji wanted what was best for Shikamaru as well. The letter might not have been a good idea, but he thought a little nudge wouldn't hurt either. He was not the pushy sort, but he liked Tenten for Shikamaru.

He hoped everything would work out.

* * *

Tenten sighed for the nth time, glad the mission was over. As luck would have it, the mission had made a sharp jump into the A-rank at the discovery of a camp of more rogue ninja than you could shake a stick at, and one particularly nasty missing nin whom Gai had dispatched with very quickly, although the few seconds of agony he had caused them with his jutsu were excruciating beyond belief. It was a good thing Team Gai ate nails for breakfast and drank poison for lunch and all that jazz. In short, they were one tough team.

Chalk up her death toll to a number far beyond a hundred this time. Explosives plus kunai were the bomb. Tenten couldn't even crack a smile at her own lame pun.

Gai had clapped a congratulatory hand on her shoulder as they'd surveyed the damage from her new weapons. Neji and Lee had goggled for a few moments before moving in to finish off the survivors, Lee following in Neji's wake, the Hyuuga with his Byakugan activated to see through the smoke.

"Tenten," their sensei said, "Your weapons expertise will be invaluable once we have located and are pitted against the members of the Akatsuki. We'll work on your speed and stamina, and with a few more practice sessions with the team, no opponent will be able to withstand our joint attack."

Tenten nodded. It was well to remember that the ability to deal all this carnage was for a purpose.

"You'll need to hold back a little during the Chuunin exams though," Gai observed. "Grass won't take kindly to your bringing down the entire arena."

"I'm perfecting my chakra-sensitive explosives, and I already know how to distribute explosions to control damage due to ground vibration, air blast and flying debris," Tenten said. "I also have some taffy saved up for emergencies."

"Still not funny," Neji called out from the smoke as Gai and Lee laughed.

* * *

She didn't feel like going home just yet, so she bid goodbye to her team mates with the usual 'parting hug of youth' or whatever term Lee liked to call it.

The real reason she hugged them was because she made it a point to remind herself and her team mates that they were capable of gentleness as well as violence after a hard day of training or missions. Neji had been wary at first, but Gai had embraced the practice, literally, and incorporated it whenever they had cause to celebrate, or when one of them was having a particularly low day.

Neji still put up a token resistance, but they knew he considered them closer than his own family in many ways and craved the affection. Gai had promised him that they would not do such an embarrassing action before large crowds of people, which seemed to appease the Hyuuga, but Tenten had a sneaking suspicion Gai had an alternative much worse than hugging up his sleeve for 'public consumption.' She tried not to think about what would happen on that fateful day.

She supposed that, in a way, all shinobi had the same problem as the Yamanakas, the risk of losing themselves in the day-to-day brutality of the ninja way of life. One either became hardened and calloused, which was the recommended path taught in most Academies, or one took a leap of faith and chose to live according to the best of his principles, as Uzumaki Naruto had proclaimed he would do.

Here she was getting philosophical when there were senbon to sharpen and explosive tags to be made. Tenten yawned and wished she could set the chore aside for another day, but there was early morning training tomorrow and she wouldn't have any other time.

Her weapons arsenal was housed in a building of its own away from her home, full of scrolls and weaponry of every size and shape. Tenten liked to go there and just croon to her babies once in a while. They dealt death but they also saved life, and it was a balance she could live with.

In this place, she could almost forget the world outside. Including fake letters confessing a love meant to manipulate her heart…

Tenten shook her head. She had gone beyond being philosophical and straight into outright maudlin. She'd be singing sad love songs next.

Sitting at her work table, she placed her head in her hands. So be it. Blowing things up and hugging her team mates was fine for most things, but she felt really bad this time.

Maybe Shikamaru did like her. He had the worst timing though, in that case. Why confess at a point that could raise so many doubts about his sincerity? And leave her to wonder till he came back, without any form of reassurance? Was she being unreasonable? If this was love, it wasn't living up to the hype.

She sat, staring at nothing, weapons within reach but useless in this particular inner struggle.

She wanted him. She wanted to be with him, to see him smile at her, to be brilliant but humble about it, to pass it off as a bother, when everything he did was for someone besides himself.

He was really clueless when it came to women though.

Tenten tried to smile to herself, but it hurt.

She wouldn't fight it anymore. A good cry was in order. Even strong ninja cried. Why, she'd heard that after heading his first mission, Shikamaru had practically bawled his eyes out.

And so the tears fell.

From the shadows, Shikamaru watched the troublesome, _troublesome _scene in front of him and knew to interrupt now meant certain death. In his mind, he said goodbye to his future wife and kids, and took the necessary step.

"Tenten."

* * *

_A/N: I knew it. I knew they were going to get melodramatic on me. Drat all these narutonovelas abounding on ffnet. I won't fault you if you stop reading now. (Oh, what a bluff. Please continue reading. Misery loves company)._

_On a lighter note, that 'fateful day' was, of course, the time Gai had them place their hands atop each other's in a glorious display of team work before they split up to find the different seals to the entrance of the Akatsuki stronghold._

_Naruto was very impressed, as I recall_.


	11. No trouble at all

_**Chapter 11: **No Trouble At All_

* * *

The speed training came in handy, and he dodged the initial barrage of weaponry she threw at him with only his clothes getting ripped to shreds. It also helped him chase her when she burst out of the door and ran.

He was giving himself a deliberate handicap by not using his clan technique, although he knew she would misinterpret it either way. If he trapped her in a shadow possession, he was being controlling. If he didn't, it meant he considered her weak. _This_ was why he avoided dealings with women like the plague. There was no right answer with them.

It took him a few more seconds to realize he was following a clone. '_Of course. Why would she leave her own fortress?' _Shikamaru retraced his steps, and came, as expected, upon the weapons hold now so thickly laid with traps that it was impossible for him to approach. Kage mane jutsu was useless here, since she'd hidden the trap sets from his view and he couldn't manipulate her to disarm them from where she stood. None of the other variations of the jutsu would work, either.

An impasse? He looked at her as she watched him from the door.

"Just talk," Tenten said quietly. "I'll listen."

And because of that simple statement, he was sure of it now.

"I love you."

His voice was steady, clear, but soft. He'd never said such a thing before to anyone.

She had erased all traces of weeping, she was a strong ninja after all, but at his words she blinked, and a sudden, traitorous droplet trickled down her face. Tenten paid it no heed, instead focusing on the boy who stood before her.

"Your timing could be better." She didn't want to be petty, but she had to point it out.

"I'm not telling you this so I could avoid the exam duties," he tried not to sound defensive, or glib, or plain stupid, "I've had feelings for you for months now, and it never seemed the right time, and I could never tell if you were interested."

It sounded like lame excuses, even to his ears.

"I don't think straight when it comes to you," he confessed helplessly.

He was stunned to taste salty liquid on his lips. Gads, she had turned the shadow technique around on him, she somehow had him mimicking her tears! He preferred to believe this rather than admit the fact that he truly was an emotional guy. He hoped she would wipe her face soon so he could mirror the gesture.

They stared at each other, both trying not to sniffle, until Tenten made her decision.

"That's not good," she finally laughed a little, and stepped across the traps carelessly, to his horror. The wires collapsed onto the grass, harmless duds, set up as a sham.

Shikamaru realized then that Tenten's aim was as good as ever, and he had survived the kunai bombardment earlier by her hand alone. It had all been an act. She would never hurt him--

She grasped him by the shoulders and shook him until he rattled.

"I do that to shake sense into Lee sometimes," she let go and he crumpled to the ground, "Are you thinking straight now?"

"Troublesome," he croaked faintly.

"Yes," she agreed, crouching beside him. She sighed, Nara-style, and said somberly, "I'm not your average girl, Shikamaru, who'll agree to settle down and have a couple of kids with you. I'm on one of the heaviest strike forces of Konoha, and my kill count is higher than any rookie's. It's my goal to make Chuunin, then Jounin, and Gai says I can go for ANBU if I set my sights on it, although he warns me about the emotional cost."

She looked at him with those soft eyes, and one would think she was pouring her heart out to him as well. "I have dreams and hopes, and even if I'm not a genius, I'm going to work towards them." She reached out and gently rubbed the tears from his face with a callused hand.

"Is that a no?" Shikamaru asked, confused. He had a perfect view of the evening sky and the crescent moon overhead, but all he cared to see was the shadowy profile of a bun-haired girl, whose steady gaze and open smile had laid him without a defense or counterattack from the moment of their first mission together.

"Only if you want it to be," Tenten said sadly. "I'm just saying I'm not your ideal. It might not work out between us."

They sat in silence for a while.

"I need to know, at least," Shikamaru couldn't let it go till he'd confirmed something. "Do you like me?"

She hesitantly offered her palm, and he cautiously intertwined his fingers with hers.

"I do." She stared at their hands. Her voice was low, almost a whisper. "Very much, I think. But I'm going to stop if I need to. We can just be friends."

Shikamaru's chest tightened at her words. Obviously she didn't love him the way he did her. He felt like he would die if he had to stop loving her. He wanted to shake her in turn, make her see what she did to him.

If he hadn't seen the way she was crying earlier, when she'd thought she was alone, Shikamaru would be tempted to believe her completely. He understood, though, that Tenten repressed things and guarded her feelings closely. While physically affectionate, and projecting a likable veneer, there were places she allowed no one to reach. She was telling him she could let him in, but he would have to work for it.

"That's—" she continued to stare at their hands, ready for his usual judgment, "the least troublesome thing I've heard of today."

Her startled gaze met his, and he gave her a warm smile, as warm as he could manage after being nearly shaken to bits.

"It sounds like we have a long time to find a way to work things out together," he said.

Her smile was as tremulous as his, but it didn't matter since her face was snuggled against his collar.


	12. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

**

* * *

**

They kept the relationship top secret, and Shikamaru continued to render duties as liaison officer. She hadn't asked him for tips and he hadn't given any. They even postponed any games of shogi on the off chance he would inadvertently reveal something about possible strategies she could use during the exam.

It was impossible to keep it secret from their own team members though, which proved that Team Gai and Team Ten either had remarkable information-gathering skills, or they were just plain nosy.

* * *

"So you think we could kiss?"

Shikamaru looked at her incredulously. "You're next up on the arena, and you're thinking about that?"

"Uh-huh. Would you kiss me after the match?" She wasn't looking at him; she was assessing the ninja she was pitted against. Her opponent was from the Hidden Rain Village, and had been leering at her and making lewd remarks ever since they'd announced the matches. She was beginning to take it in stride. It was part of growing up, learning to deal with such depravities. Also, Tenten knew that if she didn't finish him off completely during the match, Neji and Lee would be waiting for him outside the arena. They'd become more youthful like that.

"Concentrate, Tenten," Shikamaru lamented, "I don't want you to get killed out there."

"But Shikamaru," she turned doe eyes up at him. "Aren't I your first love?"

He had only two responses to eyes like that, utter speechlessness, or "yes, dear."

"Yes, dear." He was practicing other replies, really he was. "What does being my first love have to do with—"

"I can't be killed. I'm immortal," she beamed at him and delivered the punchline. "First love never dies."

"..."

Shikamaru was not a violent man, but he would kill her himself one day. Some things could not be borne.

"I will kiss you after the match," he promised darkly while he heard their team mates cackling behind him.

"Good." She stepped forward as her name was called. "I'm ready."

_**End**_.

* * *

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_A/N: I hope you enjoyed it. I'd continue it for the rest of the three year timeskip, but they might end up having a kid named Trunks who travels back in time and fights androids from the future. These three year time skips are really popular in manga, aren't they? That was a rhetorical question, but if it results in a review, please answer, by all means!_

_I must thank my readers, reviewers, favers and alerters. _

_Shadowrabbit, Aoi Nami-chan, , waterdragonrai, 1tentenchan1, WinterMission, tigers-and-dragons, Coco Mimi (*mumbles*), Vanilla Cinnamon, Rembaud, Reyes Hovi, __Kaze and Kiba, Saphira113, Jins-swords, Nerd4eva, , Tomas Hydraxus, The Pirate on Wheels, Everybody's Neesan and Pyrozia, your feedback and encouragement gave me the incentive to push on and try my best to fit this into the canon Naruto world and at the same time give Shika/Ten a chance to flourish. Sorry if you wanted more, but all I was really planning on was a one-shot consisting of the first chapter, as a sort of springboard for all those other great shikaten fics out there (First by Wielder of Paperclips comes to mind). The rest of the chapters are really just lagniappe. _

_Many of the reviewers also put the story on their Story Alerts and Faves, but I'll mention those as well who quietly watched and fav'd: alleka, amagaeru, Angelwings228, Imperfect Real 1, Mirabar, pocu, Susan Dreamer, Tendou-Jigoku, Utuu, zalbard, Sundee, and David Tai, I flattered myself by thinking your silently placing this little piece on your story alerts meant that I was cool enough to have stalkers. =D_

_Casualeio, DragonStorm85, Fredryck, wicknaru, TheGirlInTheBackRound, the speed with which you added this to your favorite stories list despite its unfinished status astounded me, and I appreciate your faith. Did I miss anyone? Hope not._

_And to the rest of the readers of this story, both past and future, thank you very much for your time. Finally, to rest._


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